Mothra is a giant moth which lives on an island irradiated by H-bomb
tests along with its human companions the 'fairies' - the Peanuts sisters
Sakai and Yoka. When its huge egg and the fairies are abducted, Mothra
trails them to Tokyo where its huge size causes immense damage. The
egg hatches producing a gigantic caterpillar which adds to the destruction
before being rescued by mum. Mothra, its offspring and the fairies are
allowed to return to the island where the sisters undertake to control
the creatures to prevent further demolition. A voice-over version was
released in the U.S. directed by Lee Kresel and produced by David Horne
from a screenplay by Robert Myerson.

A U.S. atomic submarine causes the destruction of a huge iceberg in
which a Godzilla has become entombed. True to type it heads straight
for Tokyo in order to do a bit of landscaping. Meanwhile, King Kong
is living quietly on an island in the Solomons, fighting with the odd
giant octopus and suchlike in order to protect the local fishermen.
He is found sedated from the effects of a drink made from local berries
and transported to Tokyo. On awakening, his hangover isn't helped by
Godzilla demolishing buildings all over the place and he promptly escapes
and proceeds to sort him out. After the initial skirmishes they finally
meet in a battle on Mount Fuji where an earthquake throws both antagonists
into the sea. Godzilla decides he has had enough sightseeing at this
stage and disappears, leaving King Kong to wade ashore victorious and
resume his day job on the remote island that he had been taken from.
The U.S. version was directed by Thomas Montgomery and produced by John
Beck. It was cut to 91 minutes including added scenes featuring actors
Michael Keith, James Yogi and Harry Holcombe. This completed a 'round
trip' for the original storyline which was titled variously 'King Kong
Versus Frankenstein', 'King Kong Versus The Ginko' and 'Prometheus Versus
King Kong'. It was purchased from America by TOHO and converted into
a Godzilla movie.

Radiation-exposed cells mutate into giant tentacled floating jellyfish
which hang around over Japan feeding on carbon and other elements through
their tentacles. They have a particular partiality for diamonds which
is hard luck on a couple of thieves who have acquired a truckload of
the things. As they grow, their hunger develops and they advance through
the consumption of ships and trains until they decide to have a real
blow-out with the Wakato bridge as the main course. They are discovered
to be vulnerable to a type of wasp venom and the stuff is gathered from
all over Japan until scientists eventually have enough to destroy the
creatures. The U.S. version was cut to 80 minutes.

A hurricane washes away Mothra's latest egg and it ends up on the mainland
seashore where it is found and stolen by the owners of a carnival. The
fairies try to persuade them to return the egg in vain. In the meantime,
Godzilla decides that the Tokyo skyline needs further alterations and
arrives for another visit. The fairies are asked to persuade Mothra
to help the city, which she does, but is defeated by Godzilla. The giant
egg hatches, producing two gigantic caterpillars that enclose Godzilla
in a sticky web of silken threads and push him over a cliff. Once again,
the fairies return to their island with the two offspring to nurture
them into new Mothras. Two versions were released in the U.S. cut by
4 minutes and 7 minutes.

Another in the 'not quite' Kaiju Eiga film category but close enough
to warrant inclusion, as the monster in the film was to be resurrected
in a later film to celebrate the genre. The Earth is threatened by the
evil empire of Mu, an underwater civilisation and its god, the giant
sea serpent Wenda. Earth's only chance lies in the atomic supersub Atoragon,
a combination airship/tunnelling machine/submarine under the command
of an admiral who refused to surrender the ship when 'the war' ended.
Mu threatens to destroy the world unless the supersub surrenders but
the admiral has different ideas and eventually triumphs after a battle
with Wenda. This movie was the first to use enemies on a global scale
rather than just as a threat to Japan. The U.S. version was cut by 8
mins.

Old laser breath is back! Ghidorah the three-headed space dragon raises
its ugly head again and threatens the Earth in its usual destructive
fashion. Mothra is called in to help out but, finding that she cannot
defeat the monster by herself, enlists the help of Godzilla and Rodan.
Poor old Mount Fuji sees the final action again when Mothra envelops
Ghidorah in a silky cocoon allowing Godzilla and Rodan to despatch the
unfortunate invader into the sea.

The inhabitants of an alien planet are being plagued by Ghidrah, a giant
laser-breathing three-headed dragon capable of supersonic flight and
emitting death rays from its eyes. They solicit help from Earth in the
form of Rodan and Godzilla, transporting them to their own planet in
cocoons of energy. An evil group on the aliens planet try to capture
and combine the power of the three monsters in a bid to invade Earth
resulting in a space rescue mission being launched, led by Nick Adams,
to bring 'our monsters' back home. Ghidorah holds the distinction of
being the first 'real' monster from outer space in Kaiju Eiga films.
Although Nick Adams appeared in the original Japanese version he also
made extra new scenes for editing into the U.S. release.

Frankenstein's heart is shipped to Hiroshima by the Nazis where the
box is opened just as the atomic bomb detonates. A starving survivor
- a small boy - eats part of the irradiated flesh and is mutated into
a 30ft monster with a Frankenstein-like appearance. He is called Frankenstein
by the locals and finds a home on the slopes of Mount Fuji where he
is cared for by an American scientist. The boy comes to the rescue of
Japan when it is attacked by a Godzilla-like giant reptile called Baragon.
The oddity of the alternative titles is due to the fact that the original
planned adversary was a giant octopus but only a few scenes were completed
before Baragon was substituted in place of the unfortunate cephalopod.
These scenes were later used in 'Furankenshutain No Kaiju - Sanda Tai
Gailah' in 1966. This film was a co-production with American International
producers Reuben Bercovitch and Henry Saperstein with the actor Nick
Adams appearing in the original Japanese version instead of edited-in
scenes for the U.S. market as was the normal practice up to then. The
U.S. version was cut to 87 minutes.

Gamera is a monster turtle awakened by a nuclear explosion. He heads
for Tokyo (where else?) destroying everything in his path with his fire-breathing
capability. The creature is eventually lured into the nose cone of a
rocket and shipped off in the direction of Mars. No wonder the Martians
hate us so much!
The U.S. version contained extra scenes featuring actors Brian Donlevy,
Diane Findlay and Albert Dekker. These allowed the version to portray
the Americans as the heroes of the film by discovering the monster's
weakness.

This film was intended to be a sequel to 'Furankenshutain Tai Baragon',
hence the name, but the American producer decided to have references
to the previous film removed when it became apparent that the monsters
bore more resemblance to King Kong than Frankenstein. Included in the
'lost' scenes was an explanation of how the monster's 'twin' came into
being. In the original film the monster lost a hand which regenerated
itself a complete new body. The original, Sanda, is brown in colour
and friendly while the regenerated twin Gailah is green and pretty tetchy.
The Japanese military defeat Gailah when he goes on the rampage but
he is nursed back to health by his good 'brother whom he then, thanklessly,
tries to destroy. The subsequent battle demolishes most of Tokyo before
both the twins disappear when they are caught in a volcanic eruption.
The opening scenes of the film showing Gailah coming out of the sea
are accompanied by the giant octopus ship attack scenes edited out of
the original movie. The film was made in association with American Intnl
producer Henry Saperstein for co-release on the U.S. market hence the
inclusion of the American actors.

An evil organisation called Red Bamboo attempts to take over the world.
Godzilla is unable to help much as he is otherwise engaged fighting
off the threat of Ebirah, a giant crab-like creature which is guarding
the organisation's illegal nuclear weapons factory on a remote island.
He eventually dismembers the monster in their final big showdown fight
but this doesn't seem to present too much of a problem for Ebirah as
he managed to regenerate himself from the leftovers for an appearance
in a later film. Mothra is called on from the substitute's bench to
assist the island's beleaguered humans under threat from Red Bamboo
and manages to evacuate them from the island before it disappears in
a huge explosion. Scenes from this film were used by Ishiro Honda in
'Oru Kaiju Daishingeki' (1969).

In his previous appearance Gamera ended up by being launched into space
on board a rocket. This film explains how the ship was hit by a meteorite,
sending it off course and back to Earth. During this brief excursion
Gamera seems to have magically obtained the ability of jet-propelled
flight. Meanwhile, in New Guinea, a mysterious opal egg hatches into
a reptile which grows into the 130ft monster Barugon, a creature with
a large spike on its head and more spikes on its back which radiate
a deadly rainbow-coloured energy field. Gamera is attracted to the power
in this energy field and launches an attack against the beast, laying
waste to Tokyo and Osaka in the process. The monster turtle eventually
triumphs after dragging Barugon into Lake Biwa where he apparently expires,
unseen, in a spreading cloud of blue 'blood'. Barugon is not the same
creature as TOHO's Baragon and this appears to be the only time where
one studio's creation was ripped off by another. TOHO responded to this
move by making more films with ever-increasing combinations of its own
range of monsters, culminating in their 20th movie 'special' which included
virtually all of them together.

A strange substance becomes attached to a Mars-Moon space shuttle which
mutates into the monster Guilala. It continues to grow in size, absorbing
all energy from the weapons directed against it. Scientists discover
an anti-matter substance they call Guilalium which they can only obtain
from deep space. By the time they return to Earth from their collecting
expedition the monster has flattened a fair amount of Japanese real
estate and is in the process of attacking the Astroflying Centre situated
on the slopes of Mount Fuji. The anti-matter substance is dropped all
over the monster and causes it to degenerate back to its original cell
size which is then tied up in a shoebox and shipped back into outer
space. SHOCHIKU's first Kaiju Eiga film was a production aimed at both
the Japanese and American markets hence the mixed cast list.

The island of Zorgel's temperature rises dramatically as a result of
weather experiments being conducted by a Dr. Kashumi. This causes all
the flora and fauna on the island to grow at a fantastic rate to giant
proportions. It also causes a dormant Godzilla egg to hatch, producing
a baby which is looked after by its father ( this raises the interesting
question - why are there no female Godzillas? Kaiju Eiga films are notable
for steering clear of tacky distractions like romance and connected
activities, either monster or human). The little Godzilla becomes friendly
with Reiko, one of the humans on the island and they both come to her
aid when she is attacked by the giant spider Spigon. They also have
an altercation with a few giant praying mantises. The wildlife on the
island becomes increasingly dangerous and uncontrollable which prompts
the scientists into a decision to freeze the whole place, sending everything,
including Dad and Baby Godzilla into hibernation, and abandon it for
a safer location. This film was cut to 71 minutes for the U.S. market
despite containing arguably the best special effects in the entire original
Godzilla series.

King
Kong No Gyakushuaka: King Kong Escapes; The Revenge of King Kong;
King Kong's CounterattackTOHO 1967 COLOUR 104 minutes

King Kong returns in a battle with, and the defeat of, a giant dinosaur.
He is befriended by a group of people on a scientific expedition and
becomes very fond of its female member. Meanwhile, evildoers Dr. Who
(no, not that one!) and Madame Piranha are carrying out the mining and
extraction of a radioactive ore with the help of a giant robotic King
Kong lookalike. When the monster machine starts to malfunction they
kidnap the real thing in order to keep up their production quota. King
Kong manages to break out of his prison and comes up against the giant
robot, Mechni-Kong, finally defeating him in a titanic battle on top
of Tokyo tower. To add to the destructive entertainment the film also
includes some scenes of a submarine being attacked by a sea monster
which is only mildly incidental to the storyline. The U.S. version was
cut to 96 minutes and included extra scenes featuring much more English
dialogue than the original. This version was directed and produced by
Arthur Rankin from a screenplay by William Keenan.

Baby Gappa is kidnapped by an entrepreneur who wants to display him
in a carnival-type freak show. The film relates the story of Mum and
Dad Gappa's journey in their attempt to locate and liberate him, visiting
tourist attractions like Mount Fuji, Hareda Airport and the Atami holiday
resort in the process. Almost incidental to the story are fun happenings
such as earthquakes, tsunamis and erupting volcanoes which tend to delay
their progress until they finally catch up with him at Tokyo airport.
In the final scenes the big Gappas teach their offspring how to fly
before returning to their remote island home. This was a one-off excursion
into the realms of Kaiju Eiga for NIKKATSU who generally produced gangster
and adult films. It is really more a parody of the genre than a fully
paid-up member. The film was cut to 81 minutes for the U.S. market.

Gamera battles against Gaos, a fox-like reptilian creature who is the
antithesis of Gamera. Gaos eats humans (a rarity in Kaiju Eiga), can
fly faster than Gamera and hates sunlight and fire. Because of this
last, it has the ability to emit a type of fire-extinguishing smog from
its chest. The giant turtle's image has had a makeover in this film
to include an ability to eat atom bombs and has now become very friendly
towards children, whose help it enlists at every opportunity. Gamera
eventually triumphs by trapping Gaos in the sunlight which eventually
destroys him. This new-found affinity with children resulted in Gamera
becoming second only to Godzilla in the Kaiju Eiga popularity stakes.
The U.S. release was cut to 85 minutes.

At the start of the film Gamera is seen defeating an alien invasion
ship but all is not as it seems. The children-loving Gamera subsequently
captures a couple of boy scouts who had unwittingly caused a submarine
to submerge while playing about in it. They realise that Gamera is not
quite himself and discover that he is being subjected to a form of mind
control by the 'defeated' aliens. They manage to release Gamera from
the aliens' control and he heads into space to do battle with them and
their ship's protector, the three-tentacled six-legged Viras, defeating
them all in the climactic battle at the end of the film. The films around
this time started to move away from 'pure' Kaiju Eiga, introducing different
contextual elements such as alien invaders, space monsters and mechanised
creatures. They also contained a greater degree of individual human
involvement in the main storylines.

Kaiju
Soshingekiaka: Destroy All Monsters; Operation Monsterland;
The March of the MonstersTOHO 1968 COLOUR 89 minutes

This film was made to celebrate TOHO's 20th 'monster' picture and starred
eleven of their creations. Set in the year 1999, the monsters suddenly
move away from the island where they have been living in peace, and
where they are studied by the UNGCC, to set about the destruction of
the world's capital cities. This is not in their true nature and it
is subsequently discovered that they, and the scientists who 'guard'
them, have been taken over by Kilaaks, an alien race who have planted
mind control transmitters in their necks. The Kilaaks, a female race,
have bases both on the moon and in a secret underground location on
Earth. When they consider that the monsters have caused enough destruction
they try to get rid of them by unleashing the awesome Ghidorah against
them. The ensuing battle for supremacy takes place on Mount Fuji with
baby Godzilla leading the cheering onlookers. After their final victory
the monsters return to their island home.

Gamera's fifth outing continues to display his love for children. Flying
to a planet on the far side of the sun he battles against Guiron, a
monster who looks like a living knife with arms. He has undertaken the
trip to rescue a couple of children who have been abducted by gorgeous
female aliens whose intentions are to eat the childrens' brains which
they consider a great delicacy. Have they tried sushi?

Ichiro, a young boy who is the victim of bullying, is also on the run
from bank robbers after being a witness to their crimes. He falls asleep
and dreams of visiting monster island, Ogasawara, to talk and play with
his hero, Minya, Godzilla's son. In his dream, seeing Minya battling
an imaginary Godzilla-like monster much larger than himself gives Ichiro
the courage to face and fight his own enemies when he awakens. This
film virtually marked the end of an era. It was the last Kaiju Eiga
film of the Sixties and the last monster film to benefit from the special
effects expertise of Eiji Tsuburaya who, sadly, died in 1970. Ishiro
Honda was to make only two more monster films himself - 'Yog - Monster
From Space' in 1970 was his last 'regular' film but he came out of retirement
in 1975 to direct 'MekaGojira No Gyakushu' which was a celebration of
twenty years of monster movies.